Andy Kim

Andrew Kim (born July 12, 1982) is an American politician and former diplomat who is the U.S. representative from New Jersey's 3rd congressional district.

The district encompasses Philadelphia's eastern suburbs along southern and central New Jersey.

Kim was born on July 12, 1982, in Boston to Korean immigrant parents.

He was raised in the Marlton section of Evesham Township, New Jersey, and attended Rice Elementary School before moving to Cherry Hill and graduating from Cherry Hill High School East in 2000.

After two years at Deep Springs College, Kim transferred to the University of Chicago, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 2004 with a degree in political science.

During college, Kim was an intern at the United States Agency for International Development.

He later received a Rhodes Scholarship and a Harry S. Truman Scholarship to study international relations at Magdalen College, Oxford.

At Oxford, Kim became friends with fellow Rhodes Scholar Pete Buttigieg, now the U.S. Secretary of Transportation.

Kim worked at the U.S. State Department.

He served in Afghanistan as a civilian adviser to Generals David Petraeus and John R. Allen before working as a national security adviser under President Barack Obama.

Kim served as a United States National Security Council official.

Kim voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the 117th Congress, according to a FiveThirtyEight analysis.

This results in a Biden Plus/Minus score of +45 indicating significantly higher support for Biden's priorities than would be expected given the makeup of his district.

A resident of Bordentown Township, New Jersey, Kim ran against two-term incumbent Republican Tom MacArthur in the 2018 United States House of Representatives election after advancing from the June Democratic primary.

Kim was endorsed by Barack Obama, former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, and actress Piper Perabo.

Kim said he was inspired to run in reaction to MacArthur's efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

During the campaign, MacArthur sought to portray Kim as a D.C. elitist and outsider.

In an ad run by the New Jersey Republican Party, Kim was described as "Real Fishy" in Wonton font on a picture of dead fish.

The ad was criticized for its racial undertones.

The race was considered too close to call on election night, but the next night, an influx of absentee ballots in Burlington County, home to the majority of the district's voters, gave Kim a 2,500-vote lead, prompting him to declare victory.

MacArthur conceded eight days later.

With a margin of victory of fewer than 4,000 votes, or slightly over 1% of votes cast, this was New Jersey's closest congressional race.

Kim became the first Asian American U.S. representative from New Jersey.

Kim's first official action during his tenure was to vote for Nancy Pelosi as United States Speaker of the House, but he voted against her nomination during a November 2018 Democratic caucus meeting.

He cited the need to reopen the government amid the ongoing government shutdown for his decision to back Pelosi.

A member of the Democratic Party, he has held the seat since 2019.

Kim is the first Democratic member of Congress of Korean descent and the second overall after Republican Jay Kim (no relation).

In 2023, Kim announced his candidacy in the 2024 United States Senate election in New Jersey.

In February 2019, Kim introduced his first bill, the Strengthening Health Care and Lowering Prescription Drug Costs Act (SAVE Act).

In May, the SAVE Act passed the House, 234–183.

The bill, designed to lower prescription drug costs and included a provision to prohibit brands from stopping generic versions of drugs from being sold on the market, was not expected to pass the Senate.

In June 2019, Kim co-sponsored an amendment to stop a pay raise for members of Congress.

Kim ran for reelection in 2020.

In the general election, he faced Republican nominee David Richter, a businessman.

Richter originally planned to run against then-Democrat Jeff Van Drew in the second district, but after Van Drew switched parties, Richter decided to run against Kim in the third district.

Although the race was projected to be close, Kim won by 53% to 45%, even though the district again voted for Donald Trump.

After redistricting, Kim's district became considerably more Democratic: Joe Biden would have won the reconfigured district by 14.1 percentage points in 2020, and Phil Murphy would have won it by 1.6 percentage points in 2021.

Kim won by a margin of 11.8 percentage points (55.4 to 43.6), defeating the Republican candidate, yacht manufacturer Robert Healey, Jr.

In April 2020, House leadership appointed Kim to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus crisis.

In 2020, Kim co-sponsored and voted for the Justice in Policing Act.